Volvo's XC90, while by far the most luxurious, was far from the first SUV Volvo set to sheetmetal. Volvo has a history of building off-road vehicles, such as the Sugga (see photo) and the C303 (they don't come boxier than that), used extensively by the Swedish military (yes, they have one).
Specs for the original Sugga are hard to come by in English, but we can tell you they had dash-operated locking hubs, a rarity in 1956, and a four-speed non-synchromesh (read: huge pain in the ass) transmission. Some restored specimens exist, but mostly with extensive drivetrain modifications. The also kind of remind us of one of these, which, like Grand Funk Railroad, were bigger in the 70s than we could ever imagine today. [Thanks to Zach for the tip.]
1956 TP21 Sugga Military 4WD [iroll Motors]
Sugga [The Tuning Shop (UK)]
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